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The sale of Old Campus remains up In the air.
Regents turn down old campus bid
As grades inflate, the "average" students fade.
September 24, 1976
Committee restructuring proposed
Clarion
\\\
_Bethel College
St. Paul, MN
Academic quality falls
as grading system erodes
by David Shelley
A nationwide trend toward the
inflation of grades has provoked
much discussion at Bethel,
though' "we have no official
policy in terms of grading," said
Dr. Walter Wessel, former chair-man
of the educational policies
committee.
"This upward trend in grades is
a matter of concern," Dr. Wessel
said, "but there is no pressure
whatsoever on the faculty to
change this at this time."
Faculty committees were dis-cussing
the honors program and
grade inflation last spring, but a
new committee structure is being
set up and committee work is
temporarily halted.
"Part of the problem is in trying
to define the grades more speci-fically,"
said Dr. Wayne Hensley,
associate professor of speech. "A
big problem is the N grade which
doesn't discriminate between a
student who dropped the course
and one who failed."
"We've lost the concept of
average," Dr. Roy Dalton, profes-sor
of history, stated. "College
grades today have inflated to
what they used to be in graduate
school.
"Students that would have
been dropped from the school a
few years ago, can make it
through now," Doc Dalton said.
"I try to maintain an integrity in
grading," he continued, "yet
scme studertp. avoid, ccurses if
tile professors try to practice
integrity. Professors become
known as tough or easy and
students avoid the challenging
courses."
"The pressure is tremendous
for graduate schools and jobs,"
Dr. Al Glenn, professor of biblical
and theological studies, said.
"Students work for and want an
"I see the 'C' as a respectable
grade," said Dr. Hensley. "but the
students don't see it that way.
There is probably a lot of peer
pressure involved. And students
are likely to think 'a 'C' is
average; who wants to be aver-age?'
"
"I've been badgered by students
six weeks into the next term at
times for giving them a 'B'
instead of an 'A'," Doc Dalton
stated.
"I grade starting in the middle,
with `C,' and work up and down,"
Dr. Hensley said. "It is more or
less a bell-shaped curve, assign-ing
letter grades based on the
series of number grades."
"A 'C' is to be the average
grade," stated Dr. John Piper,
assistant professor of biblical
and theological studies. "Most,
students are average so most
should get 'C's. A 'B' means the
student is very good and an 'A'
shows excellence."
"I don't grade on the curve," he
said, "but I grade on sheer per-formance
in the tasks of my
course. Part of the reason for
grade inflation is that profs are so
hesitant to discourage students
and they feel 'C's and 'D's are
discouraging.
"In my Greek courses, though,
I give mostly 'A's and 'B's
because I tend to have better
students in them," he said.
Dr. Willard Harley, associate
professor of psychology, holds a
different view. "I feel we should
not be grading on the curve, but
according to the mastery of the
subject," he said.
"It is first up to the teacher to
establish the objectives of the
course — what he hopes the
student is able to learn. He
grades according to how well the
student masters these objec-tives,"
Dr. Harley explained.
"The student is encouraged to
take tests over if he didn't learn
the first time," he continued. "He
s , ,ould get ',.):oti-ng help it
necessary.
"The student should never be
fooled. He should know ahead of
time what he needs to learn," he
said. It is not right to be graded
on picky little things. We should
grade on the major goals of the
course.
"I have felt that, ideally, a B.A.
should be given only to a student
with 'A's in every course," he
explained. "A student should
stay with a course until he has
mastered it.
"A 'C' means a lot of material
has gone over the head of the
student. A 'C' is not allright. A 'B'
is not allright. The student
should stay in the course until he
has mastered it," Dr. Harley
stated.
"As it is now, no one knows
continued on p. 4
by Diana Gonzalez
The Board of Regents, in
meetings held Thursday and
Friday, voted to reject an offer by
a developer to buy Old Campus
and ratified a decision to build an
annex to the Fine Arts building.
"Their proposal to buy Old
Campus had to be made accep-table
by our legal counsel," said
Rev. John Anderson, chairman of
the board. "There were certain
provisions in the proposal that
they changed, making in unac-ceptable
to us."
"We did take action in that we
decided to look favorably on the
sale of the campus to this party,
providing that certain provisions
he 14:ept," r-.-:!dc,d P.!tdcrs-oh.
The provisions that impeded
the sale of the old campus at this
time were the following:
by Holly Schmiess
Not everything at Bethel is
bulging. Student/faculty gover-nance
committees are being
trimmed down to a more efficient
size. If adopted by the faculty on
September 28, the new structure
will reduce committees to less
than half their present size.
Student representation will either
remain equal to, or be one less
than, faculty members on all
committes dealing with student
affairs.
Arriving at a draft agreeable to
students, faculty, and adminis-tration
has been no quick and
easy task. Sociology professor
Ken Gowdy chairs a five-member
committee which, for the past ten
days, has been sifting out the
best suggestions of two previous
committee drafts, in-put from the
student association, and their
1. There must be a sufficiently
large earnest payment (downpay-ment).
2. The buyer must give suffi-cient
advance notice to permit the
adequate relocation of dorm
students. The board considers
this a "key factor."
"When we do sell, the selling
of Old Campus will result in the
immediate provision of suitable
housing on New Campus," said
Rev. Anderson. "We've had exist-ing
dormitory plans for the last
three years."
During the meetings the board
also ratified the action of the
Executive Committee to build an
addition to the Fine Arts center
for classroom and office space.
Thcy ;p :t io ice an (ipening
of bids on Sept. 28.
"It's the hope of this board,"
said Rev. - Anderson, "that the
own ideas. The result, Gowdy
feels, is a "governance structure
that's more efficient with time
and clearer in procedures so we
can do a better job of governing
ourselves . . . but not at the
expense of anyone concerned in
the community."
Committees will be divided
into five major groups corres-ponding
to the structure of
Bethel's administration. For ex-ample,
the personnel committees
deal with issues concerning
faculty members and will work
with Dean Brushaber. The other
groups are Faculty Governance,
College Relations, Academics,
and Student Affairs. Only the last
three regard student issues and
include student representation.
In turn, each group is broken
down, by function, into two kinds
of committees: administrative-bids
will be acceptable and that
we'll be able to proceed in
October."
Rev. Anderson also said that
the Board is "aware of the
pressures created by the enroll-ment
and by the crowded condi-tions
of dormitories. We visited a
townhouse where there were
three persons in a room designed
for two."
He added that they "are
seeking every creative means
possible to alleviate the pres-sures
created by the space
problem and by the student
enrollment.
"But also we're enthusiastic
about the momentum and posi-tive
spirit exhibited by students,
'acuity, and siat. The spirn of
our meetings is a spirit of
movement, progress and opti-mism."
advisory and policy-making.
Three students and three faculty
members will comprise each
administrative-advisory commit-tee.
Three students and four
faculty-members will sit on pol-icy-
making committees.
Student Association president
Pete Taylor is concerned that
fewer students will have the
opportunity to be committee
members and that representa-tives
will be narrowed to Student
Senate members. He also points
to a clause in the faculty
Handbook that assures, "When
possible and workable, an equal
number of faculty and students
may be maintained on the
committee."
Gowdy said his committee did
not approach their job with an eye
on the old structure, but started
continued on p. 4

Reproduction or distribution of these files is permitted for educational and research purposes with proper attribution to the Bethel Digital Library. No commercial reproduction or distribution of these files is permitted under copyright law without the written permission of Bethel University Digital Library. For questions or further information on this collection, contact digital-library@bethel.edu.

The sale of Old Campus remains up In the air.
Regents turn down old campus bid
As grades inflate, the "average" students fade.
September 24, 1976
Committee restructuring proposed
Clarion
\\\
_Bethel College
St. Paul, MN
Academic quality falls
as grading system erodes
by David Shelley
A nationwide trend toward the
inflation of grades has provoked
much discussion at Bethel,
though' "we have no official
policy in terms of grading," said
Dr. Walter Wessel, former chair-man
of the educational policies
committee.
"This upward trend in grades is
a matter of concern," Dr. Wessel
said, "but there is no pressure
whatsoever on the faculty to
change this at this time."
Faculty committees were dis-cussing
the honors program and
grade inflation last spring, but a
new committee structure is being
set up and committee work is
temporarily halted.
"Part of the problem is in trying
to define the grades more speci-fically,"
said Dr. Wayne Hensley,
associate professor of speech. "A
big problem is the N grade which
doesn't discriminate between a
student who dropped the course
and one who failed."
"We've lost the concept of
average," Dr. Roy Dalton, profes-sor
of history, stated. "College
grades today have inflated to
what they used to be in graduate
school.
"Students that would have
been dropped from the school a
few years ago, can make it
through now," Doc Dalton said.
"I try to maintain an integrity in
grading," he continued, "yet
scme studertp. avoid, ccurses if
tile professors try to practice
integrity. Professors become
known as tough or easy and
students avoid the challenging
courses."
"The pressure is tremendous
for graduate schools and jobs,"
Dr. Al Glenn, professor of biblical
and theological studies, said.
"Students work for and want an
"I see the 'C' as a respectable
grade," said Dr. Hensley. "but the
students don't see it that way.
There is probably a lot of peer
pressure involved. And students
are likely to think 'a 'C' is
average; who wants to be aver-age?'
"
"I've been badgered by students
six weeks into the next term at
times for giving them a 'B'
instead of an 'A'," Doc Dalton
stated.
"I grade starting in the middle,
with `C,' and work up and down,"
Dr. Hensley said. "It is more or
less a bell-shaped curve, assign-ing
letter grades based on the
series of number grades."
"A 'C' is to be the average
grade," stated Dr. John Piper,
assistant professor of biblical
and theological studies. "Most,
students are average so most
should get 'C's. A 'B' means the
student is very good and an 'A'
shows excellence."
"I don't grade on the curve," he
said, "but I grade on sheer per-formance
in the tasks of my
course. Part of the reason for
grade inflation is that profs are so
hesitant to discourage students
and they feel 'C's and 'D's are
discouraging.
"In my Greek courses, though,
I give mostly 'A's and 'B's
because I tend to have better
students in them," he said.
Dr. Willard Harley, associate
professor of psychology, holds a
different view. "I feel we should
not be grading on the curve, but
according to the mastery of the
subject," he said.
"It is first up to the teacher to
establish the objectives of the
course — what he hopes the
student is able to learn. He
grades according to how well the
student masters these objec-tives,"
Dr. Harley explained.
"The student is encouraged to
take tests over if he didn't learn
the first time," he continued. "He
s , ,ould get ',.):oti-ng help it
necessary.
"The student should never be
fooled. He should know ahead of
time what he needs to learn," he
said. It is not right to be graded
on picky little things. We should
grade on the major goals of the
course.
"I have felt that, ideally, a B.A.
should be given only to a student
with 'A's in every course," he
explained. "A student should
stay with a course until he has
mastered it.
"A 'C' means a lot of material
has gone over the head of the
student. A 'C' is not allright. A 'B'
is not allright. The student
should stay in the course until he
has mastered it," Dr. Harley
stated.
"As it is now, no one knows
continued on p. 4
by Diana Gonzalez
The Board of Regents, in
meetings held Thursday and
Friday, voted to reject an offer by
a developer to buy Old Campus
and ratified a decision to build an
annex to the Fine Arts building.
"Their proposal to buy Old
Campus had to be made accep-table
by our legal counsel," said
Rev. John Anderson, chairman of
the board. "There were certain
provisions in the proposal that
they changed, making in unac-ceptable
to us."
"We did take action in that we
decided to look favorably on the
sale of the campus to this party,
providing that certain provisions
he 14:ept," r-.-:!dc,d P.!tdcrs-oh.
The provisions that impeded
the sale of the old campus at this
time were the following:
by Holly Schmiess
Not everything at Bethel is
bulging. Student/faculty gover-nance
committees are being
trimmed down to a more efficient
size. If adopted by the faculty on
September 28, the new structure
will reduce committees to less
than half their present size.
Student representation will either
remain equal to, or be one less
than, faculty members on all
committes dealing with student
affairs.
Arriving at a draft agreeable to
students, faculty, and adminis-tration
has been no quick and
easy task. Sociology professor
Ken Gowdy chairs a five-member
committee which, for the past ten
days, has been sifting out the
best suggestions of two previous
committee drafts, in-put from the
student association, and their
1. There must be a sufficiently
large earnest payment (downpay-ment).
2. The buyer must give suffi-cient
advance notice to permit the
adequate relocation of dorm
students. The board considers
this a "key factor."
"When we do sell, the selling
of Old Campus will result in the
immediate provision of suitable
housing on New Campus," said
Rev. Anderson. "We've had exist-ing
dormitory plans for the last
three years."
During the meetings the board
also ratified the action of the
Executive Committee to build an
addition to the Fine Arts center
for classroom and office space.
Thcy ;p :t io ice an (ipening
of bids on Sept. 28.
"It's the hope of this board,"
said Rev. - Anderson, "that the
own ideas. The result, Gowdy
feels, is a "governance structure
that's more efficient with time
and clearer in procedures so we
can do a better job of governing
ourselves . . . but not at the
expense of anyone concerned in
the community."
Committees will be divided
into five major groups corres-ponding
to the structure of
Bethel's administration. For ex-ample,
the personnel committees
deal with issues concerning
faculty members and will work
with Dean Brushaber. The other
groups are Faculty Governance,
College Relations, Academics,
and Student Affairs. Only the last
three regard student issues and
include student representation.
In turn, each group is broken
down, by function, into two kinds
of committees: administrative-bids
will be acceptable and that
we'll be able to proceed in
October."
Rev. Anderson also said that
the Board is "aware of the
pressures created by the enroll-ment
and by the crowded condi-tions
of dormitories. We visited a
townhouse where there were
three persons in a room designed
for two."
He added that they "are
seeking every creative means
possible to alleviate the pres-sures
created by the space
problem and by the student
enrollment.
"But also we're enthusiastic
about the momentum and posi-tive
spirit exhibited by students,
'acuity, and siat. The spirn of
our meetings is a spirit of
movement, progress and opti-mism."
advisory and policy-making.
Three students and three faculty
members will comprise each
administrative-advisory commit-tee.
Three students and four
faculty-members will sit on pol-icy-
making committees.
Student Association president
Pete Taylor is concerned that
fewer students will have the
opportunity to be committee
members and that representa-tives
will be narrowed to Student
Senate members. He also points
to a clause in the faculty
Handbook that assures, "When
possible and workable, an equal
number of faculty and students
may be maintained on the
committee."
Gowdy said his committee did
not approach their job with an eye
on the old structure, but started
continued on p. 4